Matt Pavolka

#17 The New York City Jazz Record Review

Is this good music for reading? It’s a fair question,since all the compositions on bassist and occasionaltrombonist Matt Pavolka’s new album are named intribute to books by Cormac McCarthy, José Saramagoand Thomas Pynchon, among others. So, would TheHorns Band provide pleasing accompaniment, or adistraction? Probably the latter, but that’s a good thing.The Horns Band is aptly named—the frontline iscomposed of Kirk Knuffke (cornet), Loren Stillman(alto saxophone) and Jacob Garchik (trombone), backedby Pavolka and drummer Mark Ferber. These arehighly regarded players on the New York scene,capable of bringing new ideas to virtually any situationand here they overcome what could initially seem to bea strong limitation. The three horns blend togetherinto a swirling fog; unaccompanied solos are extremelyrare. Almost every time one man takes the spotlight,the other two are swaying back and forth behind him.On the ballad “Lullaby”, the rich tones of cornet andtrombone harmonize effortlessly behind the saxophone,like old-time singers backing a romantic crooner. Onthe klezmer-ish mood piece “That Night the Blind ManDreamt That He Was Blind”, by contrast, the threesomewind around each other like dancers. And when thetempo gets more frantic, as on the opening “AcidMetacognition”, everyone jumps and bounces, at timeslaunching into joyous polyphony. Behind all thisharmony, Pavolka and Ferber are working just as hardas their frontline compatriots. A tight, telepathicrhythm team, they lock into hard-swinging groovesthat keep the horns from drifting too far afield andmake sure they give everything they’ve got.This is a surprising album in many ways—adisplay of collective effort that nevertheless stillpermits individual expression to shine through; a setof thoughtfully written compositions that gives theillusion of being a blowing session; a tribute to greatliterature that’s almost perversely ill-suited to serve asbackground music.